European Union: Council of the European Union adopted Directive (EU) 2024/1260 on asset recovery and confiscation

On 12 April 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted Directive (EU) 2024/1260 on asset recovery and confiscation, establishing EU-wide minimum rules on the tracing, identification, freezing, confiscation, and management of criminal property. The Directive covers all forms of criminal property, including digital and crypto-assets, where they are linked to criminal activity. It requires each Member State to designate at least one asset recovery office to facilitate cross-border cooperation in asset-tracing investigations. These offices are tasked with tracing and identifying instrumentalities, proceeds, or other property that may become subject to a freezing or confiscation order issued by a competent authority and support national authorities and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). Asset recovery offices are required to cooperate and exchange information with their counterparts in other Member States. The Directive also requires Member States to designate asset management offices responsible for managing frozen or confiscated property. The rules apply to violations of EU restrictive measures and provide for confiscation of property of equivalent value and, under certain conditions, unexplained wealth. The Directive enters into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and Member States have 30 months to transpose the Directive into national law.